Description

While an existing earthquake-damaged hospital building continued to operate as effectively as possible, SmithGroupJJR planned, designed and built the strikingly modern replacement on a very constrained site. The sleek exterior of metal panels and aquamarine glass houses a seismically safe, steel moment frame structure that frees up floor area and lends flexibility for future adaptations.

Inside, the new facility is organized vertically, with 128 patient rooms set atop the surgery suites; every patient has a private room with sweeping views of the San Fernando Valley. For convenient access, diagnostics are on the ground floor, with laboratories just below ground. Natural light and warm materials conducive to patient healing and clever touches, such as art walls that hide medical gas outlets, enhance the patient experience.

The site of the former hospital now boasts a large healing garden, the centerpiece of the transformed campus. Serving to orient visitors and provide respite and inspiration to patients and staff, the garden includes an outdoor dining space with koi pond, an intimate grove, and a labyrinth: a symbolic meditative place modeled after the one at Chartres Cathedral in France.

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